Electrospun piezoelectric polymer fibers, which offer mechanical flexibility, light weight, and relatively low temperature processing, have emerged as a strong solution to shape-adaptive energy harvesting and sensing applications for smart electronics at multi-scales. In this work, we aim to enhance the electrospun fiber-based piezoelectric energy harvesting performance by elucidating the role of the solvent in crystallization kinetics and fiber formation during electrospinning as well as its influence on harvesting performance. Two key solvent characteristics, surface tension and evaporation rate, are found to play a role in determining uniform fiber formation with controllable diameters, degree of crystallization, and electroactive β-phase content, which are primarily responsible for the piezoelectric performance of the electrospun poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluroethylene) P(VDF-TrFE). A substantial difference in the piezoelectric output performance is clearly observed depending on the choice of solvent. Indeed, N,N-dimethylformamide with a low evaporation rate enables piezoelectric output voltage generation of a thermally annealed P(VDF-TrFE) fiber-based device up to 139.5 V, while the device with as-spun fibers in the other solvent case, methyl ethyl ketone, yields a much lower voltage of 75.3 V. This study demonstrates that the tailoring capability of the solvent should be carefully considered together with other processing and operating conditions (e.g., thermal annealing, bending frequency, and electrical resistances) in order to realize enhanced piezoelectric energy harvesting performance of electrospun fibers for versatile potential applications.

Background: Lanreotide is a long-acting somatostatin analogue with proven antitumour effects against well-differentiated (WD) gastroenteropancreatic-neuroendocrine tumours (GEP-NETs). However, there are no globally established prognostic factors associated with the efficacy of lanreotide as a treatment for GEP-NETs. We investigated the prognostic value of [ 68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-TOC positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) somatostatin receptor imaging for patients with WD GEP-NETs treated with lanreotide. Methods: In this retrospective study, we included 31 patients with unresectable or metastatic WD GEP-NETs who received lanreotide and underwent [ 68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-TOC PET/CT before receiving lanreotide. We captured the following clinicopathological variables: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status, primary tumour site, NET World Health Organization grade, existence of carcinoid symptoms, previous surgery, previous chemotherapy, and hepatic tumour volume assessed by CT or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We also assessed the following [ 68 Ga]Ga-DOTA-TOC PET/CT variables: Krenning score, tumour-to-liver ratio (TLR), maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax), whole tumour volume (WTV), and total receptor expression (TRE, WTV multiplied by SUVmean). The associations between these markers and progression-free survival (PFS) with lanreotide were analysed.

Antibody-conjugated nanoparticles (NPs) have attracted great attention in diagnostic and therapeutic applications due to their high sensitivity and specificity for biotargets, as well as their wide applicability. Unfortunately, these features are significantly affected by antibody conjugation methods in terms of conjugation efficiency, orientation of the target binding site in the antibody, and denaturation during chemical conjugation reactions. Furthermore, the number of conjugated antibodies on each NP and the overall targeting efficacy are critical factors for a quantitative bioassay with antibody-conjugated NPs. Herein, we report a versatile and oriented antibody conjugation method using copper-free click chemistry. Moreover, the number of conjugated antibodies and their binding capacity were quantitatively and experimentally evaluated using fluorescently-labeled antibodies and antigens. The strong binding capability of antibody-conjugated NPs prepared using the copper-free click chemistry-based conjugation strategy was 8 times superior to the binding capability seen following the use of the EDC/NHS-coupling method. Additionally, the versatility of the developed antibody conjugation method was also demonstrated by conjugation of the antibody to three kinds of silica-encapsulated NPs.